Thirtyfive years
I lived with my husband.
While the opening lines of the poem make it plain that the poem is dealing with sadness, these lines suggest what the speaker is going through. The speaker's husband has clearly passed away. The mention of the specific number of years that they shared (and the number of times they watched the first bloom of springtime) underlines the depth of their relationship and the pain of her loss. It also shows how the arrival of this particular spring does not bring her joy, because it was something she used to share with her husband. Now, it reminds her of his recent passing.
Masses of flowers
load the cherry branches
These lines highlight the richness of the scene in the speaker's backyard. In this particular section of the poem, Williams details the beauty of the fresh grass and the blooming tree and bushes. These descriptions of seasonal lushness both build out the setting and underscore the widow's struggle. This beauty is hard for her to see because it only reminds her of her husband's absence. The radiance of the scene rings hollow for her.
and fall into those flowers
and sink into the marsh near them.
The poem ends with a description of the speaker's desire to visit a tree in a meadow that her son has described to her. She wants to fall at the base of this tree and sink into the "marsh" around it because she imagines it is the only way she can feel something in its presence. Since she has lost her husband, she can no longer enjoy the blossoming of spring from her window. Here, she seems to imagine that she can only bury herself in it to have some authentic reaction to its beauty.
